The networks of British fishermenin recent times, are filling octopus as never before. This is what is happening in the waters of Sleeve channelwhere the fisher Neil Watson recorded an absolute record: 48 tons of octopus caught in one montha number 240 times higher than the same period of 2024.
However, what is certainly a manna for the budgets of local fishing boats is actually a alarm bell for the marine environment. The main cause of this anomaly is the increase in surface temperatures of the seacaused by Marine heat waves more and more frequent.
According to the Climatologist Paul Moore of the Irish weather service Met Éireann, persistent High pressure systems they blocked cold currents and favored a Record heating of the North Atlantic. In some areas, as off the coast of Ireland, the water has touched the 4 ° C above averagean unprecedented fact.
An advantage for some, a disaster for others
While i octopus thrive Under these conditions, other species pay the consequences. The molluscs, the main food of the octopus, are drastically decreasingdamaging the balance of the ecosystem. Not only the shells suffer: also iconic species such as the codfish symbol of British Fish & Chips, they are suffering the recourse, together with planktonbase of the Marina food chain.
According to Georg Engelhard, biologist of the Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the situation is particularly worrying: more warm means more survival for eggs and octopus larvae, but a dizzying drop for other organisms. A unbalanced dynamicwhich could lead to even more serious consequences in the summer months.
Although in recent weeks the atmospheric conditions have led to a slight drop in sea temperatures, experts warn that It takes little to return to the peaks of May. The heat waves, combined with global climate change, could trigger devastating chain effects: Toxic algal blooms, Death zones without oxygen, risks to human health And Damage to traditional fishing. A systemic problem for the entire marine ecosystem.
